Friday, November 30, 2012

Dr. Drew, you owe the celiac community and Jennifer Esposito a BIG apology!

Today's post actually is being shared with permission of Nikki Everett and her daughter Erin. Please make sure to read through the end of the post and then visit the change.org site to help 11 year old Erin ask Dr. Drew for a well deserved apology to the celiac community. To see Nikki's original article about this issue please visit her Charlotte, NC ROCK gluten-free support group website!

Nikki & her daughter Erin

Hi Everyone,

If you have not seen the interview with Dr. Drew and Jennifer Esposito which took place 11/27/12, it has caused quite a stir in the community. The misinformation and total mishandling of celiac disease and leaky gut syndrome, not to mention Jennifer Esposito's claims of illnesses, was unacceptable.

Erin, my daughter, was so angry from watching it, she has written the following to send to Dr. Drew's show:

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Dear Dr. Drew,

Hi, I am an 11 year old girl that watched your show and hope to help you with your knowledge of celiac disease. First of all, not everyone has diarrhea, there is also constipation with celiac disease. They have to take your blood in tests or an endoscopy to diagnose celiac. Celiac disease is not a disorder it is a disease. When you called it only a disorder, that hurt my feelings because I am a celiac and I know what its like. It seemed like you have no clue what other kids and families go through when they find out they have it.

I was sick for many years but no one knew what was wrong. We went to doctor after doctor. They tried to tell me it was all in my head! On Halloween night, when I was seven years old and I went trick or treating,I came home and was so sick to my stomach. I was throwing up all night long with my mom by my side. That same week I went to the doctors because I wouldn't eat anything and lost four pounds. My doctor did the same thing you did - example; "I think she has constipation nothing more, that would solve the hurting of the stomach." It kept on getting worse. My mom demanded that they do an endoscopy. They did and found out I had Celiac Disease.

Mom started a R.O.C.K group. It stands for Raising Our Celiac Kids. One time when the kids and I were at one of our meetings, another girl came up to mom and said that she hadn't ever been able to eat a cake at a party in years. All the mothers were tearing up and mom felt joy in her heart. You see, we face people not believing our disease is as serious as it is all the time.

Please take the time to learn more about celiac disease and gluten free living, so you don't make anyone else as sad as your show made me. We need people like you to educate others and spread awareness about this horrible illness. No one should feel ashamed of this disease.

Thank you so much for sharing this, Carrie. After watching that short clip I truly feel for people whose own doctor is just as ignorant as Dr. Drew. It seemed to me that because Jennifer had to explain to him what leaky gut syndrome was, he felt threatened and made sure he had the upper hand throughout the rest of the conversation. This distracted Jennifer from sharing what she really wanted to talk about. I hope he responds to Erin's letter and apologizes to the celiac community as a whole.

WOW. His rudeness was completely unprovoked! I ran into this from my own doctor when I discovered that I'm gluten intolerant. "You don't have celiac disease. There's nothing wrong with you. A GF diet is bad for you." Yeah, chronic sinus migraines and GI issues are totally normal...and when I stop eating gluten and the symptoms disappear, that can't mean anything. Ugh. Thanks for posting this, Carrie. I hope this guy gets Celiac disease himself.

I was just shocked by his rudeness and arrogance. As someone with Celiac Disease, I can all too well understand what Jennifer has been going through. I also have had doctors who have been dismissive, arrogant and insensitive to me because of my disease. So maybe I shouldn't be so shocked. This should hopefully be a real wake-up call to those out there who are the least bit concerned.